Automatic cut-off.



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. HUMAN, OF STEUBENVILLE, OI-IIO, ASSIGNOR TO SCIENTIFIC PRODUCTS COM- PANY, F STEUBENVILLE, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

AUTOMATIC CUT-OFF.

Application filed July 18, 1917.

To all 10 7mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN G. HOMAN, 'a citizen of the United States, and resident of Steubenville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Automatic Cut- Olfs; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full-clear, and eXact description thereof.

My invention relates to automatic cut-outs for electrical apparatus, andmore particularly to a combined thermostat and cut-out or a thermo-controlled cut-out, and has for one of its objects the provision of a device of this class that will be positive in its action, and that if the thermostat fails to re spond to the rise in temperature and operate to break the circuit, the cut-out will at a predetermined additional degree of temperature be freed, thus providing a double safety device.

Another object is to provide a plurality of contacts within the device, so that if one set should stick or become inoperative another set will open.

Still another and very important object is the provision of means for adjusting my cutout to provide for different degrees of temperature.

lVith these and other objects in view, I have illustrated one form of my invention in the accompanying drawings and described the same in detail in the following specification, although it will be understood that various changes may be made in shape, size and other details to adapt the device to various uses, within the scope of the appended claims, and I do not therefore wish to be limited to the construction shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of my device having the side of the casing removed and showing a circuit diagram;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View;

Fig. 3 is a view on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view on the line H of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the indicator band.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, my device comprises a casing A composed of top member and base member 11 bent to form a recess therebetween.

A plurality of metallic strips B have their one end secured between the ends of the members 10 and 11 at one side of the body Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 29, 1918.

Serial No. 181,264.

and have their o her ends free within the recess. One of said strips or the thermostrip 12 is in contact with the base member 11, a second strip 13, having its secured end surrounded by insu ation, 14:, is placed above the strip 12 and has a slight upward tension. Spring strips 15 and 16 are placed above the strip 13. The strips 12, 13 and 15 have con tacts 19 passing therethrough adjacent their forward ends, said contacts engaging each Other.

The spring strips 15 and 16 are spaced apart and provided with their normal tension by member 20 composed of fusible metal.

The top and base members 10 and 11 respectively are held together by insulating wrapping 21 on each end.

An adjusting member, for adjusting the tension on the plurality of strips B, comprises a gripping portion 22, having an indicator band 22 thereon and a threaded shank 23 adapted to pass through the top member 10 and engage the strip 16.

An insulating plate 2 1- is secured to the top member 10, and an upwardly extending stop lug 25 is secured in the plate 2% and is adapted to cooperate with a lug 26 on the gripping portion 22 of the adjusting member.

The top and base members 10 and 11 have their ends, opposite the ends between which the strips B are secured, insulated by an insulating member 27. The sides of the device are also closed by insulating pieces 28 and 29.

Connecting posts 30 and 31 are secured in the top 10 and base 11 respectively, and are adapted to receive the lead wires.

The operation of the device is as follows: The thermo-strip 12 becoming heated to a certain temperature, will drop, breaking the contact with the strip 13, thus breaking the circuit. Should the contacts 19 on the strips 12 and 13 stick for any reason, the strip 13 will also be pulled down, and the contact between the strips 13 and 15 will be broken, thus also breaking the circuit. As an extra precaution, should the thermo-strip 12 fail to respond to the effect of the high temperature, the member 20 between the strips 15 and 16 will soften and permit the strip 15 to raise, thus breaking the contact between the strips 15 and 13.

If it is desired to raise the temperature at which the device will o erate, the adjusting member is turned down and provides more tension on the strips B;

It will thus be seen that I have provided a -very simple and positive acting device, and. one that is very sensitive and may be adapted to a number of uses. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is V a ,1. An automatic cutout comprising a casing a thermostrip therein, spring contact strips above said thermo strip, contact pointson all of said strips, said contact points normally being in contact with each other, and means for automatically releasing said spring contact strips to breakthe contact between said contact points if said thermo-strip fails to work.

' 2. An automatic cutout comprising a'casing, a thermo-strip, spring contact strips above and spaced from said thermo-strip,

contacts in the forward ends of said strips,

said contacts being in engagement with each 7 other, and means for automatically releasin said s )rin contact stri )s so as to break other, means for auton'iatically releasing said contact strips to break the contact between said contact nolnts at a predetermlned temperature, and means for adjusting the tension of said contact strips.

4. An automatlc cut-out comprising casmg, a thermostatic strip therem, a contact Copies of this patent may be obtained. for five cents each, by addressing the Gornmissionerof latents;

button at the forward end of said thermostatic strip, spring contactstrips within said casing, contact buttons in the forward end of said strips, all of said contact buttons being noramlly in contact with each other, means for automatically releasing said spring strips to break the contact between said buttons at a predetermined temperature, and means for adjusting the tension on said sprmg strips to cause the thermostrip to receive a higheror lower degree of" ing, a thermo-strip within said casing, a

plurality of spring contact strips within said casing and insulated from said thermostrip,contact buttons in all but the uppermost of saidstrips and in engagement with each other, a fusible element wedged between the two uppermost spring strips providing a tension thereof, and. means for manually adjusting the tension of said strips within a predetermined limit.

In testimony whereof, I, the said JOHN G.

llormn, have hereunto set my hand. 7

JOHN G. HOMAN;

' Wit-nesses:

C. D. JAooBs,

R031. L. STUART.

Washington, D; 0. 

